Cash for Clunkers Drives Head On Into Freedom

By Tony Vega

Remember that cool new government program that promised 3,500 - 4,500 bucks for your old gas-guzzler to be used for the purchase or lease of a new vehicle? That program, Cash for Clunkers, sank quicker than...well... an Oldsmobile in the Chappaquiddick.



On the surface, this seems like a pretty good idea. An incentive to buy, stimulate the economy, and even help the environment by getting rid of old clunkers for more fuel-efficient cars. You better get Maaco baby, because the rusty truth is showing up big time.

Let's take a look at this government-induced boondoggle.

There had been a $1 billion budget for rebates for new car sales in the program. It went bankrupt after the first week. In addition to a failed government plan, the flawed economics is simply this, we are subsidizing taxpayers with taxpayer money. That is not going to help our (USA's) net worth.

OK, so what, it's our money, why should the fat cats benefit and not us? The simplicity and emotions behind that is what drove so many folks to the car dealer. I am not saying you should have stayed home. But don't candy-apple coat it folks, you are going down to get a piece of a new welfare program paid for by the taxpayer.

Additionally, there is something fundamentally wrong with destroying vehicles that are still viable while increasing more debt. This will not earn us any A-pluses in economics-101. Whatever, get while the getting is good.

As per the government, "the program requires the scrapping of your eligible trade-in vehicle, and that the dealer disclose to you an estimate of the scrap value of your trade-in."- cars.gov

The Wall Street Journal summed it up this way, "By this logic, everyone should burn the sofa and dining room set and refurnish the homestead every couple of years."

This program very well may be a shot in the arm, almost like a hit on the ol' turbo boost, it will get you there fast, but in the long run it will cost you more money and make you run out of gas quicker; yeah I know, but the ride was fun.

Secondly, the bankruptcy of this program should sound off like an old-fashioned Mac truck air horn. How on God's green earth, pardon me, let me re-phrase that for my more PC readers; how on this spontaneously combusted green earth can you expect this government to run health care or crap & trade, when they can't even manage to run Cash for Clunkers?

Lastly, certainly not least, in fact the most important aspect of this failed policy is how the government is driving this program head on into Freedom. This Cash for Clunkers program has a dangerous stipulation when you or the car dealer logs onto the government's web site.

That stipulation was publicized by Glenn Beck and below is the video explaining it. I implore you to check it out and afterward reflect on all those complaints about the Patriot Act.

The feds tell us, "Consumers should expect that all information collected through the CARS Program will be kept confidential. Social Security numbers are not required for a CARS transaction." - cars.gov. BUT, what they are not telling you is this:

"This application provides to the DoT CARS system. When logged on to the CARS system, YOUR COMPUTER is considered a FEDERAL COMPUTER SYSTEM AND IT IS PROPERTY OF THE United States Government, any and all uses of this system and ALL FILES on this system may be INTERCEPTED, MONITORED, RECORDED, COPIED, AUDITED, INSPECTED, and DISCLOSED to authorized CARS, DoT and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, BOTH DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN." (Emphasis my own)

The House just approved $2B more for Cash for Clunkers. Oh, I forgot it is the program formerly known as Cash for Clunkers. Yes, the Obamacracy as with many pop icons changed its name; it is now officially dubbed the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).

Crap and Trade

Janschwalde Power Station, Wiki Commons

By Tony Vega

Update: H. R. 2454 can be found here , thanks Independent Voice

With the birth of an Obamanation the second amendment becomes an even more attractive target, health care is close to being socialized and Cap & Trade is a euphemism for oppressive taxation.

A quick look at the numbers for this Cap & Trade fiasco will reveal that your average American will get hosed at the gas pump, may want to read their electric bill with the lights out and watch their jobs sail away to overseas corporations. Oh, let's not forget about the polar bears or the planet, no help there either.

There are many credible organizations, such as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Brookings Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) and even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that detail the cost and ineffectiveness of Cap & Trade. I implore the folks to turn the pages for themselves and asses by fact.

How about our European neighbors, how has Cap & Trade been working for them?

According to an investigative report by the London Bureau of BusinessWeek, Europe's CO2 output actually rose 1.1%. An in depth analysis published in the Washington Post delves into Europe's issues with Cap & Trade. Let's take a look:

Business

Kollo Holding's factory in the Netherlands is a silicon carbide maker that calls itself the greenest such plant in the world, but now can't afford to run full-time. Europe's program has driven electricity prices so high that the facility routinely shuts down for part of the day to save money on power.

Although demand for its products is strong, the plant has laid off 40 of its 130 employees and trimmed production. Two customers have turned to cheaper imports from China, which is not covered by Europe's costly regulations.

French cement workers may lose jobs to Morocco, which doesn't have to meet the European guidelines. Four-hundred cement workers protested a license for a rival company that plans to take advantage of Europe's system for controlling greenhouse gases by circumventing it. The rival wants to import material from Morocco, where factories don't have to pay to emit carbon gas.

Residents

German homeowners pay 25 percent more for electricity, even as their utility companies earn record profits.

[Landlords will pass increased heating and electric costs to tenants. Workers across the continent face the prospect of losing their jobs to foreign facilities that aren't required to follow Cap & Trade standards. When the price of electricity, gas, and operating costs rise everyone will feel the hit, from heating your homes, driving to work, or paying for transportation to get to work and/or play.]

Environment

[In addition to Europe's CO2 output rising by 1.1%] Europe's cap-and-trade system has done little to reduce output at such places as the Janschwalde coal plant, [located near the village of Janschwalde in Brandenburg on the German-Polish border] Europe's third-biggest carbon dioxide emitter. Each year, it spews more than 25 million tons of carbon dioxide; half of its output can power all of Berlin.

Remember that cement plant in Dannes, France and the prospect of them losing their jobs to a Moroccan plant?

The Moroccan plant may produce even more carbon dioxide than the one in Dannes. "This is going the wrong way from an environmental point of view," Vincent Bichet, Director General, Dannes.

Back in the U.S., Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi and other Obama elites are pushing for similar Crap & Trade policies. Rest assured it will be like chum to the sharks, the lobbyists and enviro-arsonists are already circling.

It is my firm belief that we should all be good shepherds of the earth. The current Cap & Trade system will do nothing for the planet and is only green in the sense that it will remove the green from your wallet and plant it into the accounts of the fat-cats.

Dinner & Taxes

(h/t Zeeman)
Author unknown

Dinner & Taxes

I was having lunch with one of my favorite clients last week and the conversation turned to the government's recent round of tax cuts.

'"I'm opposed to those tax cuts," the retired college instructor declared, "because they benefit the rich. The rich get much more money back than ordinary taxpayers like you and me and that's not fair.'"

"But the rich pay more in the first place," I argued, "so it stands to reason that they'd get more money back."

I could tell that my friend was unimpressed by this meager argument. So I said to him, "let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand."

"Suppose that every day 10 men go to a restaurant for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If it was paid the way we pay our taxes, the first four men would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59."

The 10 men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Now dinner for the 10 only costs $80. The first four are unaffected. They still eat for free. Can you figure out how to divvy up the $20 savings among the remaining six so that everyone gets his fair share? The men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $3.33, but if they subtract that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being paid to eat their meal.

The restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same percentage, being sure to give each a break, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so now the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59.

Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," complained the sixth man, pointing to the tenth, "and he got $7!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!"

"That's true," shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor."

Then, the nine men surrounded the tenth man (the richest one, paying the most) and beat him up. The next night the richest man didn't show up for dinner, so now the nine men sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They were $52 short!

"And that, boys, girls and college instructors, and political mental giants, is how America's tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table any more. There are lots of good restaurants in Switzerland and the Caribbean."